U's 2-1 Barnet: 8th August 2026
Knight and Heath ignite United's turnaround in the Carabao Cup first round
Cambridge United kicked off their 2026-27 campaign with a 2-1 victory over Barnet in the EFL Cup on Saturday. The win was pleasing, as was much of the performance and the ability to respond after a going a goal behind. The real headlines perhaps surround one man who didn’t play a part in it.
Neil Harris had said in pre-match that winning was clearly the aim but perhaps less the be-all and end-all compared to other elements of the display. A win to start the campaign would have been enjoyable but unlikely to influence many people’s predictions for United’s finishing league position; defeat would inevitably prompt some faux-hysteria in some quarters but would play little part in the final reckoning.
From the moment the team sheets were declared and Gassan Ahadme’s name was missing from it, it felt like the most important aspect of the whole afternoon would be the comments from Harris after full time when the details of the Ahadme absence could be revealed.
In the end the news was disappointing but not quite a full-blown calamity. The forward wouldn’t be missing for a very extended period but he will miss “a few weeks” with an abductor injury. The season will start without him and Callum Stead, who won’t be back until at least October.
Hopefully those prognoses don’t worsen, and a clear positive to come out of Saturday was the performance of Louis Appéré, who will play in the nine position for the foreseeable future.
Ahadme was a summer (re-)signing who missed out but two new arrivals did make their debuts from the start, with Callum Perry on the left of a back four and Isaac Heath in front of him. Patrick Bauer was on the bench, the nod in the centre of defence going to last season’s pairing of Kell Watts and Mamadou Jobe, and with no Ahadme there was a place on the bench for goalscoring 16 year old Dan Efobi.
